FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Northern Virginia restaurant owner has vowed that what happened earlier this month, will never happen again.
On Feb. 17, Sonny Madsen, the founder of K9 Caring Angels, says she called Blue Iguana in Fairfax County to confirm a reservation.
The reservation was for a group of Veterans and their newly certified service animals who had just graduated.
"We had always gone to the Blue Iguana in the past so it was a surprise," said Madsen.
The surprise being that the person who answered the phone told them, if they brought dogs, they'd have to sit outside, Madsen said.
"They said if you have dogs, you have to sit outside and it doesn't matter if it's cold. Which was a little rude. He said I just want to remind you these are service dogs. He said it doesn't matter," she said.
She told WUSA9 she was shocked by the employee's response. "I said it's illegal to deny veterans and their service dogs in the building and he said I know. So then I asked for a manager and he said it doesn't matter they're standing right here and I've told them twice," said Madsen.
WUSA9 reached out to Blue Iguana, and the owner responded via email in less than 24 hours.
I am Dr. Clifton Wilcox, the owner of Blue Iguana. I am available to discuss and as a 100% permanent disabled veteran I am outraged that such a incident took place in our restaurant.
Dr. Clifton Wilcox the owner and CEO of Blue Iguana, agreed to do an interview to talk about what happened. He explained that he was shocked when he saw the email from WUSA9.
"We take things like this seriously," said Dr. Wilcox. "Coming from a military family and also being a 100% permanent disabled veteran and served in the Gulf War. This shouldn't happen and unfortunately it happened on my watch."
He told WUSA9 he immediately contacted his managers, who told him that the employee in question was a new employee.
"It doesn't excuse what took place, but again we're taking drastic measures to make sure this doesn't happen again," said Dr. Wilcox.
According to The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):
Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go.
If it's not obvious what service an animal provides, staff are allowed to ask two questions.
1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
You are not allowed to ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task, according to the ADA.
"Even asking those questions can be enough to trigger an individual to a debilitating level of anxiety so it should always be respected," explained Madsen.
Dr. Wilcox told WUSA9 he hopes this serves as a reminder to other business owners, that they shouldn't assume their employees know the rules, but should instead make sure they do.
He says his certainly do now.
Madsen told WUSA9 she was grateful to hear Dr. Wilcox's response to what had happened.
"I'm really happy to hear that because I would like to take my people back to the Blue Iguana now," said Madsen.